zone," petroleum is found staining the soil, or floating as an iridescent film on pools of water, or occasionally filtering into the peasants' wells. During the winter, such wells are from time to time skimmed, and the separated oil is conveyed by barrel-carts to the nearest refinery agents, or is used locally for illuminating or lubricating purposes.

The profile shown in Fig. 8, for which the author is indebted to Mr. Edwin R. Blundstone and the St. Margaret's Technical Press, clearly indicates that pipe-lines might be laid with an easy gradient from the petroleum fields to the rivers Pruth and Danube, the former of which is navigable by small steamers at least as far as Jassy, while the latter is navigable by large steamers throughout the country. The existing and projected facilities for railroad transport are considerable, and it is said that as soon as a new branch line is completed, the petroleum industry at once springs up around it. All the existing works are in proximity to the railway lines which traverse the petroliferous area. Typical specimens of Roumanian petroleum collected by Mr. Blundstone and examined by the author had the following characters :-Colour very dark brown by transmitted light, with only a moderate amount of fluorescence. Odour not disagreeable. Specific gravity from 0.839 to 0-896. Flashing point (Abel test) from below 20° to 123° F. With one exception, the samples remained fluid when exposed to a temperature of zero F.

The petroleum deposits of Transylvania have hitherto been but little explored; but the oil-bearing strata appear to be similar to those of Eastern Galicia, the oil being found in the Eocene formation. In the neighbourhood of Bereczk, in the county of Haromszek, numerous outcrops of petroliferous strata occur, and shallow wells at Sosmezö, Gelencze, and Zabola have yielded oil. A well sunk to a depth of 137 metres, is stated to have yielded at first as much as 30 barrels of oil a day. The district is close to the Roumanian frontier, and is distant 96 kilometres, or 59 English miles, north-east of the town of Kronstadt, a station on the Transylvanian railway, where there are six refineries for Roumanian oil.

In Northern Hungary, indications of the presence of petroleum occur at Kriva-Olyka and Hankowce.

In Bukowina, oil has been found in the Watra Moldawitza district, where several wells were drilled by Mr. G. S. Crosbie, to depths ranging from 170 to 340 metres, and elsewhere.

INDIA.

Petroleum occurs in Upper and Lower Burma (including the Arrakán Islands), in Assam, in the Punjab, in Baluchistan, and elsewhere.

Burma. In the Arrakán Islands (Fig. 10), petroleum occurs in the Barangas, principally in the most easterly of the islands, and in Rámri, at Minbain on the western side, at Létaung on the south-western and Likmau on the western coast, and at Kyauk Phyu. It is also found in Cheduba island and elsewhere in smaller quantities.

accompanied by large quantities of gas, rises rapidly, and the other type receiving thin oil by slow percolation from a rock more or less saturated with petroleum. The wells of Létaung are stated to 1 Records Geol. Surv. India, xi., 1878, part 2, 188-207.

Padang

Savage L

Baringa

BARANGA
ISLANDS

URMA

61

Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

Much information regarding these deposits has been given by Mr. F. R. Mallet.1 He describes two types of wells, one appearing to communicate with a reservoir from which the oil, usually

belong to the former class. One of them, 25 feet deep and 4 feet square, contained water covered with the oil, which was drawn twice daily. A similar well 40 feet in depth existed about 200 yards to the north-west. The oil was of a pale yellow colour. These wells are said to have existed without diminution of their output, which, however, amounted only to a few gallons daily, since the Burmese domination. Considerable quantities of gas issued through the water and oil in both the wells.

As regards the future of Rámri as an oil-producing territory, Mr. Mallet makes the following remarks:-"The not unfrequent fiery eruptions from one or other of the mud volcanoes occurring in a line near Tsi Chang, near Kyauk Phyu, leaves but little room for doubt that there is a fissure beneath them in which large quantities of gas are generally stored up, and it is at least highly probable that a considerable quantity of oil is associated with the gas. A lucky boring might strike a spouting reservoir of great capacity, but of course such an undertaking would be of a speculative kind. There are no data to determine at what depth the oil is stored, nor what the inclination of the fissure may be, whether vertical or at a greater or less angle. A boring, therefore, sunk actually along the line of vents might miss it altogether. A few holes, however, sunk in a line at right angles to the line of vents, could hardly fail to strike it if sunk sufficiently deep. The experiment would certainly be an interesting one, whether rewarded with success or not." He considers that the wells in the south of the Eastern Baránga are of the same class, and gives particulars of the drilling of two wells to the depths of 66 and 68 feet respectively. The first yielded 1,000 gallons of oil for seven days, and then 120 gallons daily. The second yielded 150 gallons daily. In each case large quantities of gas escaped, accompanied by loud subterranean noises. The wells were sunk in nearly vertical beds of grey shale of rather smooth fracture and unctuous to the touch. The second of the above classes of wells is best represented at Minbain, in Rámri, where there are several scores of wells about 4 feet in diameter and from 5 or 6 to 10 or 12 feet in depth. The aggregate production is only 6,000 bottles (about 1,000 gallons). During the wet season, the wells become wholly or partly choked with rubbish. The wells are dug in a tough grey clunch, usually covered by a foot or two of alluvium. The oil-bearing portions of the strata near Minbain are said to be situated at or near the axis of an anticlinal.

Much of the Arrakán oil has the appearance of brandy or sherry, and may be burned in ordinary lamps in its crude state. Specimens of petroleum from the Eastern and Western Barángas, examined by the author, were dark brown in colour, of pleasant odour, and of a specific gravity of 0.835 and 0.888 respectively. Mr. Mallet 1 has compared the Arrakán oil with that from Upper Burma ("Rangoon oil") as follows:"In this connection the difference between the petroleum of the 'The Mud Volcanoes of Rámri and Cheduba. Geol. Surv. India Records, xi., part 2.

Irrawádi valley and of Rámri may be noticed. The mud volcanoes of the former region have been described by Dr. Oldham as very sluggish, and as never exhibiting the fiery paroxysms to which those in Rámri are subject. At the same time the oil is dark coloured, is as thick as treacle, or even solid at 60° F., being indeed often spoken of as 'Rangoon tar,' and contains paraffin to the extent of sometimes more than 10 per cent. The Rámri oils are associated with much gas, and are themselves sometimes as transparent and light coloured as brandy. They have a lower specific gravity than the above, and at 60° are perfectly mobile. Without venturing to assert that the above differences are due to a difference in the temperature at which the oils have been produced, it may be noticed that at Baku, on the Caspian, where there are mud volcanoes subject to fiery eruptions, similar to those of Rámri, the oil is in part of the same pale transparent kind, and is accompanied by immense quantities of gas."

A sample of light coloured oil from the mud volcanoes at Kyauk Phyu was found by the author to have a specific gravity of 0.818, and to consist almost wholly of kerosene.

Much test boring was done some years ago on the Arrakán Islands by the Baránga Oil Refining Company. In 1880, a well sunk on the Outer Baránga Island to a depth of 800 feet, was reported to yield at first 30 barrels daily, but the production soon declined to 4 or 5 barrels. Another well near to this, yielded at an estimated rate of 6 barrels daily at 600 feet, and was subsequently deepened to 1,200 feet. At this depth, the well was flooded by water, and large quantities of inflammable gas escaped. A considerable number of unproductive

wells were also sunk.

At Minbain, on Rámri Island, fourteen wells were drilled, eight of which were productive, and at the close of 1884, were said to be giving a total yield of from 100 to 140 barrels weekly. The development of this district has recently been continued by the South Australian Petroleum Company, and satisfactory results are stated to have been obtained.

The oil district of Yenangyaung (Creek of Stinking Water), Fig. 9, which lies on the eastern side of the Irrawádi, about 300 miles from Rangoon, or about 180 miles from the terminus of the railway at Allanmyo, comprises two oil-fields about 1 miles east of Yenangyaung, near the villages of Twingôn (Hill of Wells), and Bemè, which are worked by the natives by means of dug wells, and the intermediate oil-field of Kodaung, which is the scene of the principal drilling operations of the Burmah Oil Company. This district has been described with much precision by Dr. Noetling.1

The Twingon field lies between the villages of Twingôn and Enausu, and has an area of about 198 acres. The number of wells in existence is 441, of which number 153 are unproductive. The deepest of the Burmese dug wells, 310 feet, is in this district, but the depth of

1 Report on the Oil Fields of Twingaung and Beme, Rangoon, June, 1889, and Report on the Petroleum Industry in Upper Burma from the end of the last century to the beginning of 1891, Rangoon, July, 1892.

the majority of producing wells does not exceed 250 feet, on account of the caving in of the sides, and of the effect of the petroleum vapour on the workmen.

The Beme oil-field occupies an area of about 70 acres, and in 1891, the number of wells did not exceed 174, of which 89 were unproductive. The only drilled wells in the Yenangyaung district are those of the Burmah Oil Company at Kodaung, midway between the Twingôn and Bemè fields. Up to the present time (1894), 60 wells have been drilled, usually to a depth of 350 to 400 feet, though some are from 750 to 800 feet deep. The productive wells generally give from 3 to 30 barrels of oil a day, but some yield more. None of the wells flow.

The only other district in Upper Burma where petroleum has been obtained commercially is at Yenangyat, about 8 miles to the south of Pagan, and on the opposite side of the Irrawadi. Six wells have been drilled here by the Burmah Oil Company to a depth of 700 to 800 feet. Of these, five were dry, and one is a flowing well yielding about 5 barrels a day of oil of specific gravity 0-823. The oil contains a considerable proportion of solid hydrocarbons, and of the more volatile of the liquid hydrocarbons.

The Burmah Oil Company have a large refinery on the bank of the river at Dunniedaw, close to Rangoon. This factory, which was erected shortly after the annexation of Upper Burma, has recently been enlarged, and is now capable of refining from 800,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of crude oil monthly.

Petroleum also occurs at Minbu, about 18 miles below Yenangyaung, on the western side of the river. It is not, however, commercially worked, and the indications have not hitherto been regarded by the Burmah Oil Company as sufficiently favourable to justify the expense of drilling. The oil occurs in the immediate neighbourhood of mud volcanoes. Petroleum, which is said to resemble that of Arrakán, is collected to some extent in pits about 3 or 4 feet in depth in the Yaw Country west of Pagan; and oil has been reported in the Chindwin Valley north of Pagan, and at Indin, some 50 miles inland of the Chindwin River.

In Pegu, promising indications have been found at Padaukpen, west of Thayetmyo, and at Yenatoung, west of Myanoung.

Fig. 11 shows the general configuration of the Yenangyaung district, the ground being much broken and intersected with ravines, some of which are from 200 to 250 feet wide and from 100 to 150 feet in depth. These ravines have been produced by the action of water upon strata of unequal durability, mainly consisting of ferruginous conglomerate and soft sandstone, and belonging to the Tertiary formation, apparently to the Miocene period (Noetling).

The strata consist chiefly of laminated and clayey sands, sometimes indurated into soft sandstones and sometimes highly calcareous. Concretions of sandy limestone occur in some of the beds, and nodular concretions of very hard quartzose limestone are also found. The sandstones vary in colour from white or pale yellow to dark red and blue, and the clays and sand-clays are of a bluish-grey tint.